by Dennis Beckley
| Observing Log Entries for C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) | |
|---|---|
| Date | 2004 October 10 02:39 |
| Observer | Dennis Beckley |
| Location | Fiddletown |
| Instrument | Obsession 18.0 f5.15 ParCor |
| Object Type | Comet |
| Apparent Position | RA. 05h03m37.3s Dec. -27°33'15" (Cae) |
| Magnitude | 9.1 |
| Object Altitude | 17° |
| Conditions | Very Clear 6) MW/M31 direct, 7 stars LDip Good seeing (3) |
| Description | TeleVue Panoptic 22mm, 108x TeleVue Nagler Type 4 17mm, 140x TeleVue Nagler 9mm, 264x |
| Brightest comet of the night! Mag 8-9; Very large and round coma with hint of fan-shaped tail to the N. Bright core. mag 8.8 star just to the SE. This is a comet to keep track of - supposed to brighten to naked eye by years end. | |
| Observing Log Entries for C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) | |
| Date | 2004 October 9 20:12 |
| Observer | Dennis Beckley |
| Location | Fiddletown |
| Instrument | Obsession 18.0 f5.15 ParCor |
| Object Type | Comet |
| Apparent Position | RA. 14h54m23.6s Dec. +68°42'38" (UMi) |
| Magnitude | 10.5 |
| Object Altitude | 38° |
| Conditions | Very Clear 6) MW/M31 direct, 7 stars LDip Good seeing (3) |
| Description | TeleVue Panoptic 22mm, 108x TeleVue Nagler Type 4 17mm, 140x TeleVue Nagler 9mm, 264x |
| Positioned between two stars (mag 8 star 3 ' to the north and mag 11 star about the same distance to the south); comet has a diffuse halo with small brighter core; it is smaller and dimmer than when I last saw it one month ago; hint of a small tail at PA 180. Best view was at 140x; higher power doesn't show much more detail. | |
| Observing Log Entries for C/2004 Q1 (Tucker) | |
| Date | 2004 October 9 21:54 |
| Observer | Dennis Beckley |
| Location | Fiddletown |
| Instrument | Obsession 18.0 f5.15 ParCor |
| Object Type | Comet |
| Apparent Position | RA. 01h49m29.8s Dec. +21°52'16" (Ari) |
| Magnitude | 11.4 |
| Object Altitude | 40° |
| Conditions | Very Clear 6) MW/M31 direct, 7 stars LD Good seeing (3) |
| Description | TeleVue Nagler Type 5 31mm, 77x TeleVue Nagler Type 4 17mm, 140x Pentax SMC LX 7mm, 340x |
| Easily seen with 31 Nagler, It's about 30 ' SW of 1 Aries; there are 3 galaxies seen in the same FOV; N678 and 680 just to NE and further east is N691. Very nice field of veiw. The Comet is realtively large and brighter than Q4 (about mag 9). Has a bright star-like nucleus. Large coma and no tail. N 678 is an edge-on galaxy with brighter core, N680 is brighter and oval . N691 is larger but dimmer. The galaxies are all part of the N697 group. A very nice field of 3 galaxies and one comet! | |
| Observing Log Entries for SN 2004et | |
| Date | 2004 October 9 20:57 |
| Observer | Dennis Beckley |
| Location | Fiddletown |
| Instrument | Obsession 18.0 f5.15 ParCor |
| Object Type | Single Star |
| Apparent Position | RA. 20h35m31.4s Dec. +60°08'28" (Cyg) |
| Magnitude | 12.8 |
| Object Altitude | 68° |
| Conditions | Very Clear 6) MW/M31 direct, 7 stars LDi Good seeing (3) |
| Description | TeleVue Nagler Type 5 31mm, 77x TeleVue Panoptic22mm, 108x TeleVue Nagler Type 2 12mm, 198x TeleVue Nagler 7mm, 340x |
| Easily found on SE side of the galaxy forming an arrowhead (Sagitta) asterism with 3 other stars; There is a mag 14 star just to the NW and a dimmer star close to the S of it. the SN is about mag13.5 and has a dimmer star just to the W. The galaxy 6946 and the beautiul OC 6939 just to the SW can be seen in same FOV in the 31 Nagler. This is the second SN I've seen in the last few months (SN 2004dj seen recently in NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis). | |
| Observing Log Entries for Gyulbudaghian's Nebula | |
| Date | 2004 October 9 22:49 |
| Observer | Dennis Beckley |
| Location | Fiddletown |
| Instrument | Obsession 18.0 f5.15 ParCor |
| Object Type | Diffuse Nebula |
| Apparent Position | RA. 20h45m57.3s Dec. +67°59'05" (Cep) |
| Magnitude | 14.0 |
| Object Altitude | 55° |
| Conditions | Very Clear 6) MW/M31 direct, 7 stars LDip Good seeing (3) |
| Description | TeleVue Panoptic 22mm, 108x TeleVue Nagler Type 4 17mm, 140x TeleVue Nagler 9mm, 264x |
| First attempt at this variable nebula illuminated by the variable star PV Cep. An easy star-hop from 7 mag star HD198737 to a 4 star trapazoidal asterism. The nebula lies just 2.5 ' to the west. It was held with direct vision at 108x as a thin grey slightly fan-shaped nebula pointing in a NE direction. Better seen with averted vision and at 140x ; Higher power doesn't reveal much more due to soft seeing conditions. I couldn't be sure that I really saw the illuminating star PV Cep (it may be in downward regulating mode). I didn't see any color other than grey. Any filter kills it since it's a reflection nebula. Have to come back on a night of better seeing when I can use higher power. | |
| Observing Log Entries for M 2-55 | |
| Date | 2004 October 10 04:21 |
| Observer | Dennis Beckley |
| Location | Fiddletown |
| Instrument | Obsession 18.0 f5.15 ParCor |
| Object Type | Planetary Nebula |
| Apparent Position | RA. 23h32m05.1s Dec. +70°23'52" (Cep) |
| Object Altitude | 41° |
| Conditions | Clear (5) MW averted vision, 6 lil dip stars Good seeing (3) |
| Description | TeleVue Panoptic 22mm, 108x TeleVue Nagler Type 4 17mm, 140x TeleVue Nagler 9mm, 264x |
| Easily found despite some moonlight interference. Seen with direct vision at low power without filter betwen and just to tthe W of two mag 11 N-S oriented stars. Round to oval grey disk of even brightness and decent sized for a Mink PN. No surface details seen but this was not a good night for higher power eyepieces. The PN markedly enchances with OII filter. No CS seen. | |
| Observing Log Entries for IC 418 | |
| Date | 2004 October 10 02:46 |
| Observer | Dennis Beckley |
| Location | Fiddletown |
| Instrument | Obsession 18.0 f5.15 ParCor |
| Object Type | Planetary Nebula |
| Apparent Position | RA. 05h27m41.5s Dec. -12°41'18" (Lep) |
| Magnitude | 10.7 |
| Object Altitude | 28° |
| Conditions | Very Clear 6) MW/M31 direct, 7 stars LDip Good seeing (3) |
| Description | TeleVue Panoptic 22mm, 108x TeleVue Nagler Type 4 17mm, 140x TeleVue Nagler 9mm, 264x |
| Bright moderately large oval disk of even brightness and very bright CS. This planetary has been said by some to show a redish color rather than the usual grey, green or blue. When I first saw it at medium power I initially thought I could see a redish hue around the outer perimeter but after a few more looks not so sure. This PN is markedly enhanced by an OIII filter. It's said to show intricate detail at higher power but the seeing was too soft to go high tonight and will have to come back on a night of better seeing. | |
| Observing Log Entries for M 79 | |
| Date | 2004 October 10 03:30 |
| Observer | Dennis Beckley |
| Location | Fiddletown |
| Instrument | Obsession 18.0 f5.15 ParCor |
| Object Type | Globular Cluster |
| Apparent Position | RA. 05h24m23.0s Dec. -24°30'54" (Lep) |
| Magnitude | 7.7 |
| Object Altitude | 23° |
| Conditions | Very Clear 6) MW/M31 direct, 7 stars LDip Good seeing (3) |
| Description | TeleVue Panoptic 22mm, 108x TeleVue Nagler Type 4 17mm, 140x TeleVue Nagler 9mm, 264x |
| The first globular cluster in my quest for the new AL Globular Cluster certificate (Why not? I just happened to be in the area looking for a comet and GC's are hard to find in the Winter MW). This is a bright moderately large (~10') very concentrated GC with many surrounding individual cluster stars seen in the outer halo. I would rate this as a class 4 GC based on comparisons in the booklet. | |
Posted on tac-sac Oct 12, 2004 09:25:33 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.3 Mar 18, 2006 21:59:40 PT
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